Collecting Photographs
by OptimisticMuffins
Summary: She hated adding pictures to her collection because it usually meant someone was dead. He came along and turned her thinking around. Oneshot Kensi/Callen


**Hey y'all, it's me, OptimisticMuffins, with my favorite show ever! Okay, done being annoyingly perky. Here's a little Kensi/Callen goodness to make us all a little happier.**

**I DON'T OWN NCIS: LA OR ANYTHING ASSOCIATED WITH IT (or NCIS) (because if I did, we all know there would have been WAY more sexual tension in season one than there was)(but that's not saying much…there was zero…c'mon, directors, GET SOME ROMANCE GOING)

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The first time he noticed the photographs was after Hetty had sent his couch—_his_ couch!—to a repair shop for some recently broken springs (courtesy of Eric's unicycle). Kensi had a spare room she offered up, and, with little else to do, Callen accepted. There were two clusters of photos on the kitchen counter in her apartment. Standing on one side were two pictures; one of a very young Kensi with both her parents (she informed him that she had been five and her mother had left not long after the picture was taken), and the other was a team picture. Callen recalled the situation which brought the team photo. Soon after he returned to work after recovering from the drive-by shooting which left five new scars on his chest, Hetty insisted on a picture of the entire team—not just Sam, Kensi, Dom, and himself, but Nate and Eric as well (and, of course Hetty in front). The other group of photos had three frames. Two were similar; casual pictures, each capturing Kensi with men Callen did not know. In the first picture, Kensi looked to be in her late teens, smiling with her hand entwined in the first man's; he was wearing a Marine uniform. In the other picture, Kensi seemed older, perhaps in her early twenties, but with a different man, this time in the middle of punching his arm instead of holding his hand. The third picture was a military photograph of a Marine in glasses. Kensi saw him looking at them and explained that the Marine in glasses was her father (but he had already guessed as much, based on facial similarity). He did not inquire about the other two pictures, and she did not explain (but then, he had not expected her to). He wondered about the way she had placed the frames, but she said nothing about that either, so, of course, neither did he.

The second time Callen took a moment to look at the pictures, he had let himself into Kensi's apartment with his spare key after Kensi was absent at work without calling in the day following Dom's death. He noticed that something about the pictures had changed. He looked carefully at them and saw that the group of three pictures had become four. The newest addition to the collection had to have been recent, because it was a portrait picture of Dom, smiling happily at the camera. Callen had felt his throat tighten as he walked over to pick up the picture, and he realized why Kensi had been particular about which photos went where. The group of four, he concluded grimly, was all people she had not just loved, but loved and lost for good. As he had replaced Dom's picture, he noticed shattered glass littering the kitchen's floor and saw Kensi, with her back against the cabinets and forehead resting on her knees so that her hair obscured her face. Dried blood was all over her forearms and hands, telling Callen exactly what had happened. And so he had woken her up (she had, apparently, cried herself to sleep, which he deducted from the tear streaks on her face and her swollen eyes) and driven her to the hospital, despite her weak protests that she neither wanted nor needed to go to the hospital. He was not surprised when she needed copious amounts of stitches. She almost fell asleep in the car on the way back; half asleep, she admitted that she hated adding pictures to her collection because the group of three (now four) was the only one that grew.

The third time came six months after he walked into the apartment because of an argument with her at work, determined to apologize and make things right. After all, he _had_ instigated the confrontation; it really wasn't Kensi's fault that she was shot at. He hadn't been angry at her for performing below standard (on the contrary, she had done amazingly well on this particular case), but the terror he felt when he saw the suspect fire had shortened the lifespan of his relief and switched quickly into anger and irritation at the shooter (which, unfortunately, was unleashed on Kensi herself.) As she had stalked from the bullpen after their shouting match, he had realized what caused his temper to flare and after sulking for an hour made up his mind to correct his wrong and set the record straight. She looked up as the door opened and frowned when she saw who it was; he explained himself and tried desperately to make her understand. He had just about given up when Kensi surprised him by grabbing his shirt and kissing him, and then he knew that she understood perfectly. Now, six months later, he placed a new frame with the ones of her family and team; this one was just the two of them, smiling side by side, arms around each other.

The fourth incident involving the pictures came a little more than two years later. Callen had found time to take Kensi out to dinner, and insisted on going somewhere nicer than the usual burger run (not black tie, but not jeans and t-shirt, either). They went for a walk on the beach, Kensi enjoying an ice cream cone (her fondness of which never failed to amuse Callen; not that he minded, since he thought she looked adorable eating one). The two stopped for a moment; Callen reached for her left hand and slid a simple ring on her finger. She looked at the band first, then glanced at him curiously. He raised his eyebrows; she smiled and said okay. The very next day Callen took a picture of the two, the ring clearly visible in the photo, and within 24 hours had framed it and placed it next to the picture from their six-month anniversary. A week after this, he noticed that one of the pictures had vanished from the memorial photos; the one of teenage Kensi with her arms around a smiling Marine.

The fifth (and most current) event centering around the picture collection happened less than a year after the engagement picture. The picture captured the two agents beaming at the camera, one in a simple but elegant white dress and the other in a tux. Beside her was Abby Sciuto, and next to Abby was Hetty; beside him was, of course, Sam, the best man. Eric and Nate had been called up for this particular picture (Eric had risen to the occasion and donned a suit and tie, though he swore it was a rental and declared he would never wear one again), and were standing next to Sam. For once, everyone looked honestly, genuinely, extremely happy.

And, as Kensi placed the two groups of photos in their places in the small home she and Callen had moved into, she realized that she was looking forward to adding frames to her collection.

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**So there you have it! I don't remember how this idea popped into my head, but it did, and I kinda ran with it until I liked how it turned out. **

**LOVE AND HUGGLES**

**OptimisticMuffins**


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